The Value of Analytics
By Khari George
Understanding what makes and breaks a company in any industry is key for survival. Whether the company’s survival is lucrative or a meagre existence, that’s holding on by clutching at a straw, is highly dependent on the business strategies that are employed. Strategy begins from the ground up. This requires a business to have, a vision and there after compose a mission. The vision and mission needs to be realistic, for if they aren’t, then you have broken yourself and the business even before it begins. This is so because executives and staff need to believe that what they are working towards is accomplishable for them to put their best effort forward. Having done this, objectives and goals can be set and should be measurable so as to determine success or failure. How you go about accomplishing these objectives and goals require strategic planning. Think of the different use cases that exist within the organization. Analyze the various processes and interactions that occur on a daily basis and even those that are not so routine. Look for opportunities to optimize tasks associated with the various jobs that are a part of the organization. Build data collection into your processes. The data you collect is what will be used to help you strategize and measure your successes and failures.
In one of its basic forms, imagine that you have collected sales data and would like to determine the effectiveness of giving discounts or of the various promotions that are run for a given period. Thanks to your foresight and planning that led to the compilation and saving of data, the entity is in a position to analyze this data to determine whether the objectives that they were created for, were achieved or not, and a decision can be taken on the continuation of such initiatives. That is to say, halt or go forward with the promotions.
This is not the only application of analytics. Imagine, the firm at which you work has a competitor and it’s a close fight between both of you. Your firm has to be in a position to determine if the competition uses one strategy, then you will use another to best counteract the effects of their strategy. At times, this requires going into the field and doing research. On doing research, data is gathered and compiled for analysis. After the analysis is done a report should be provided on the findings, where conclusions and recommendations are offered for management to gain useful insights about what is occurring. Useful insights is what data analytics is about. The ability to dig beneath the surface and tell a story about what is going on and which, is not always apparent can be of great value to a company. Having data is one thing, but knowing how to use it to extract meaningful insight is where the value lies.